Meal times are the most stressful time for most mothers, especially if your child is a fussy eater. As a first time mum, I tried to go by the rules of the book trying different tastes, textures, using colourful spoons and plate, telling stories during meal time, using a high chair, everything that promised to help a child eat better. But my luck, nothing helped. Here are 11 other tricks to help your fussy eater eat.
As my daughter moved on from semi-solid foods to solid foods, getting her to eat anything nutritious became an ordeal, leave alone finishing the entire meal. However, I learnt to deal with the challenge with time. I say, challenge because that is exactly how it feels when you have a fussy eater to deal with. Here are few tricks that have helped me wade through the ordeal. These worked for me; hope you can use some of these techniques to help your fussy one eat. Here are four things you are doing wrong while feeding your fussy eater.
Talking about comic characters during mealtimes and not the food
I try and strike a funny conversation with her which she is interested in, just before it s time for lunch or dinner. So I start talking about Doraemon, Chota Bheem, Mickey Mouse or Spiderman. The conversation starts with trivial issues like, What did Doraemon do when Nobita came home crying? or You know Spiderman is so strong and big. These things grab her attention while I pile up her plate with dal, rice and sabzi. And then depending on her mood she becomes her favourite character either she is Doraemon, Spiderman, Chota Bheem or whatever her heart desires. While she plays I put one morsel at a time into her mouth, and this trick works. She is in her imaginary world, and I am facing the reality of trial and error. Never, I repeat never, talk about food directly with your fussy eater. Watch this video to know how to get your child to eat healthy.
Preparing her favourite food every day
I have tried to introduce one vegetable at a time, one taste at a time and different textures, as the parenting books advised, so that she grows up eating everything nutritious. But all my honest efforts and hard work didn t yield any result and my daughter turned to be a fussy eater. So I tried to figure out what is it that she would like to eat. Well, her choices are very specific toor dal, whole masoor dal, kidney beans, chickpeas, cauliflower and soya chunks. So every day I make sure that at least one of her favourite dish is prepared. If I am cooking bottle gourd on a particular day, I will make sure that there is either chickpeas or toor dal to go with it. Every morsel then comprises of rice, mashed chickpeas and mashed bottle gourd. That s how I get her to eat the vegetables I want. Here are 12 superfoods that boost immunity in children.
Bribing her (yes, I know it is wrong)
Bribes are not always candies and colas, but a promise to visit the nearby park, read her favourite book or to play with her play-doh if she finishes her meal without much fuss, and it works well for me. And, I do see to it that the bribes are given.
Using the word yummy numerous times
I am not the best cook in the world, agreed. But believe me, I don t cook that bad. So each time when she makes a face after taking in a morsel, I tell her that it s yummy. This trick works. I keep using the word yummy at least four or five times during the entire meal so that she feels that the food is really good and finishes off her meal. No, I am not lying to her, my cooking isn t awesome, but it deserves that yummy, and she deserves all the nutrition.
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